A car mechanic would have a hard time building a car if he or she didn’t know anything about the car’s parts. The same holds true for scientists who want to design or program proteins and microbes. They must first understand the structure, complexity, and interactions of the system they are interested in. For Philip Romero and Ophelia Venturelli — two new assistant professors joining the Department of Biochemistry on July 11 — this idea is what drives their research.

Romero comes to UW–Madison from an assistant professorship at the University of California, Los Angeles, and...

After almost four decades with the Department of Biochemistry, senior contracts specialist Patricia Mings is set to retire June 30. Having worked closely with Hector DeLuca as his assistant, she departs with many memories of the department’s rich history.

“After working with Hector for almost 37 years and in every department building except the newest one, we’ve been through a lot together and have become close,” she says. “When I started here I was the same age as many of the lab members but as I leave I’m more like a grandma to them.”

Judith Kimble, a Vilas Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is working as a member of the Steering Committee for Rescuing Biomedical Research, a national effort to address “major problems” plaguing biomedical research.

The Integrated Program in Biochemistry (IPiB) Student-Faculty Liaison Committee announced its officers for 2016-17 at their ice cream social on Wednesday, June 8. The committee serves as a connection between students and faculty to foster input and collaboration.

“SFLC is really interested in fulfilling the needs of graduate students in IPiB,” says Kim Haupt, the outgoing chair and now a 2016-17 career chair. “The strength of the IPiB graduate program is reflected in the existence of the SFLC organization and the support we get from the faculty. We are all working together to make...

Biochemistry Ph.D. student Zachary Kemmerer’s unique combination of science and strength has earned him the title “The Science Ninja.” Kemmerer’s skills are so profound that he’s found himself on the hit show “American Ninja Warrior,” and he is using his prowess to help others engage with biochemistry.

Vatsan Raman, a CALS assistant professor of biochemistry, is one of two University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists selected to receive a 2016 Shaw Scientist Award from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.

“It’s quite a story,” says Caruccio. “UW-Madison had a researcher who spent his career trying to understand this strange and unexpected phenomenon — DNA jumping from place to place inside a single cell. Eventually, Bill Reznikoff discovered the enzyme responsible for that, which would have been a landmark by itself. But then this small biotech company in Madison picked up on the enzyme, made an improvement, used it to speed up next-generation sequencing, and was sold to the maker of the fastest gene sequencers on the market."

This award recognizes a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow who best exemplifies the spirit of Sigrid Leirmo, who received her Ph.D. degree in the Department of Biochemistry in 1989 and was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Bacteriology when she died tragically in an accident in October 1990. Dr. Leirmo was widely acknowledged among her fellow students and colleagues as both a promising researcher and an enthusiastic friend and mentor.

Last May, biochemistry professor Rick Amasino and life sciences communication professor Dominique Brossard traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in the congressional and public briefings associated with the release of a new National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report on GMOs. Both were members of the committee tasked with assembling the report, titled “Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects.”

The report has since been released and can be found here. Brossard and Amasino were at the 2017 American Association for the Advancement of Science...

Dr. William J. Rutter, will receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin–Madison on Friday, May 13, 2016.

Rutter is a founder of the field of biotechnology, having made seminal contributions in both academia and industry. He received pivotal training here at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with Prof. Henry Lardy, one of many eminent scientists at our renowned Institute for Enzyme Research. His research group made many extraordinary contributions, including the first cloning of genes encoding insulin and growth hormones, development of the first recombinant...

Charlie Lor, Cathy Michael, David Parker and Kerry Tobin have been selected as one of five teams to receive UW-Madison's 2016 Administrative Improvement Award for their work developing the Biochemistry Logistics Tool (BLT).